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This week, President Trump orchestrated a takeover of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) by appointing Mick Mulvaney as director, despite laws that prohibited him from doing so. Mulvaney has heavily criticized the existence of the CFPB, a pro-consumer independent agency, so appointing him director guarantees the gutting of consumer protections.

CWA President Chris Shelton released a statement in response to the Trump administration's attempt to take over and weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB):

The leadership battle at the CFPB is part of a larger struggle over whether our country will return to the days when big Wall Street banks could act with impunity and without accountability. It's outrageous that President Trump is flagrantly flouting the law in an attempt to give Wall Street banks the green light to again rip off American working families. Trump's attempt to install Mick Mulvaney as acting CFPB director violates the clear language of the Dodd-Frank Act prohibiting him from doing so.

The CFPB has proven itself to be an essential check for consumers on the power and abusive practices of big banks. Since its inception, the CFPB has returned over $12 billion to American consumers harmed by Wall Street wrongdoing and has helped to expose the illegal actions of such corporate bad actors as Wells Fargo and Santander, where Mulvaney's former Chief of Staff serves as a lobbyist working to undermine the consumer protection rules the bureau is charged with implementing.

The CFPB gives bank employees who are concerned about potentially illegal high-pressure sales tactics a way to voice their concerns without having to navigate a maze of regulatory agencies.

Mick Mulvaney has expressed strong opposition to the CFPB and its mission. Putting him in charge at the agency not only violates the law, but is a classic case of asking the fox to guard the henhouse.